Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1887-04-02
MARTINsBURG, W VA, SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1887.
SroP MY PAPER. "

After you get angry and make up
your mind to stop your paper, to
make the editor feel Inundated,
just poke finger in water and pull
it out and look for the hole. Then
you know how sadly you have been
missed. The man who thinks a
paper cannot survive withoul his
support ought to go off and stay
awhile. When he goes back he will
find that half of his friends didn't
know he was gone. The other half
didn't care a cent, and the world at
large hadn't kept any account of
his movements whatever. Yon will
find things you can't indorse in
every paper. Even the Bible is
rather plain and hits hard hicks. If
you were to get mad and burn your
Bible the hundreds of presses would
still go on printing them; and if
yeu were to stop your paper and
call the the editor all sorts of ugly
names, the paper would still be pub.
lished.--Ea.
The country newspaper, though OF
the greatest Importance to town,
and valuable above all else 20 PEG.
Pile, is founded on no system at all.
The city papers have both system
and method, or they would be mere
playthings for the masses. LIST. They
must be paid for cash or no paper.
I'd. They pursue certain policy,
shaped according to the demands of
the times, or moulded by the master
mind and hand by which they are
managed. If you don't like that
course. or are not generous enough
to read different views, the remedy
is simple-you don't need to,-and
all that yon can say and do about it
is no more than the flutter of a
feather in the night wind, unheard
and unseen,-gone and no one knows
where and cares not. The city pa
per takes nothing in exchange but
the cash.
hnr 10 Of e,
paper carries along for years, read
it and talk of its management as if
they owned it, but when it comes to
paying one would think that they
were being asked for that much
public charity instead of value long
since received aud used to the last
farthing. Two, three years slip
around and the amount runs up, and
when called upon for payment, the
Indebtedness is denied aud insult
and reflection are added to deiraud-
ing. Country newspaper men who
keep black list" for number of
years, can make some interesting
revelations: many men who pose
in society, church or public affairs,
are found on it's dark pages and as
the worldly display passes in review,
one feels like speaking out in meet
ing or letting the public read the
record for itself in black and white.
As rule, the plain and unassumlng
man is the best pay, and those who
work hardest pay promptest. When
one inquiries too closely into "show''
and "pretension" it is often found
that somebody's fathers or mothers
coffin and last doctor bill have not
been paid for.
There is no earthly reason why a
printer, who must pay everything
cash, should trust five or eight hun.
dred persons two or three years,
when not one in hundred would
leave bill against the printer un.
paid for half that time.
There is no class of men who do
more for the people, Individually and
collectively, for The public good, than
publishers OF the country press. No
class gets less pay and thanks. The
fault lies in The want of business sys-
TEN, and want OF appreciation OF
personal services or profession.
There is no plan aud nosunity. Liv-
ing rates and a cash system would
| give the country press its just dues
and earnings, and gain for it the
respect and appreciation lost by its
own underestimation.